Exclusive: Marvel Feeds GALACTA Digital Comics

Art from Assistant-Sized Spectacular
Marvel tried something a little different, a little just-for-fun, and a little crazy this year, when they decided to give the reins to their Assistant Editors for a 2 issue Assistant-Sized Spectacular. The two issues offered stories that according to Assistant Editor Jordan D. White, “probably would’ve just been a ‘no’ if we’d pitched them at any other time,” featuring new and periphery characters in slightly more off-beat stories than readers would usually see.

After the issues came out, Marvel hosted a poll to allow fans to choose which story would continue. White’s story, written by Adam Warren, Galacta was the winner by a “fairly overwhelming” margin, he told us, and will be moving online for a 3-part Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited exclusive.

Each part to the story will be seven pages long, and will continue to be written by Warren. White said, “Adam, if you’re familiar with his work, comes up with ideas that are just out there,” and was the only choice for him.

White knows Galactus as a concept is a “wacky” one. The idea of a daughter, using some of the same themes but bringing her down to Earth was a way to explore other issues that this type of being might face. Her origin wasn’t divulged much in the initial 9 page story, but will be explained a bit in the upcoming digital comic. White knows people are wondering how exactly Galactus had a daughter, and thinks that’s another part of the fun of the character. “It’s probably impossible to come up with an idea as crazy as what goes on in readers heads, but we’re going to try,” he explained, touching on the craziness of the character’s very existence.

Art from Assistant-Sized Spectacular

The choice of running a new character like Galacta as a Digital Comic exclusive was explained by John Cerilli, VP of Content for Marvel.com. “Since we launched our exclusive Digital Comics program in September 2008, we’ve published at least one of them every Wednesday—often two or three, actually. From the onset, we made it known that these exclusive digital comics would be fertile ground to publish all kinds of stories—from the likes of tales that occur in Marvel movie continuity to westerns to comedic takes. We’ve now released over 50 of them and as we move forward, you’ll be seeing more and more diversity in what we publish—from Spider-Man to Galacta and everything in between.” White noted it also allows these new characters to more firmly become part of the Marvel Universe.

“In these, Galacta’s going to meet a few prominent members of the Marvel Universe, at least 5 or 6 important characters,” White teased. He did mention Marvel fans should be able to guess at least a few of those, and if people want more hints, there have been some mentions on Galacta’s Twitter Feed, which was used during the initial story to help promote the character. The inclusion of her own Tweets was something Warren and White both really liked doing as a method of further grounding the character. The story will see Galacta pick up on the “cosmic tapeworm” cliffhanger at the end of her first feature, and will see Galacta trying to talk to people in the Marvel Universe who she thinks might be able to help solve her hunger issues.

Galacta will see print again, eventually. The one-shot will hold the original 9-page story plus all three 7-page digital issues, but no specific date for that is planned yet.